by AUDREY CREEL / December 26, 2020
©Audrey Creel, 2020 (All rights reserved.)

David Maney was born in approximately 1828 in Tennessee.[i] It is not definitive where David was enslaved prior to emancipation. Lewis Maney enslaved an individual approximately David Maney’s age in 1860.[ii] Lewis was the only member of the Maney family to enslave someone David’s age. Therefore, it is highly probable that David was enslaved on the Maney plantation (present day Oaklands Mansion) prior to the Civil War.

After the Civil War, David Maney married Lucy Burke on December 1, 1869 in Rutherford County, Tennessee.[iii] David also helped establish one of the earliest African American churches in Murfreesboro following the Civil War, becoming one of the first deacons for First Baptist Church (est. 1866).[iv] Following their marriage, David and Lucy moved into a home in Murfreesboro.[v] David and Lucy lived in the same household with Wally and Wm Maney.[vi] It is unknown how David and Lucy were related to Wally and Wm as they do not appear in any further census records with David’s family. According to the 1870 census, David found employment working with the railroad in Murfreesboro.[vii] By 1880, David and Lucy had two children: Minnie and Luke Maney.[viii] David now worked as a blacksmith in Murfreesboro, though it is unknown where he was employed.[ix] By 1900, David purchased a home on Stone Street in Murfreesboro where he lived with his family.[x] David was no longer employed in 1900.[xi] David likely died between 1900 and 1910 as he is not counted in the 1910 census. There are no further records which indicate when or how David died.

For more information on David’s children see: Lucy Maney

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References

[i] United States Census, “Maney, David,” 1870 United States Census, 1870, accessed December 26, 2020 from ancestry.com database, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7163/images/4275524_00045?treeid=&personid=&rc=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Kxs375&_phstart=successSource&pId=7435221.

[ii] United States Census, “L.M. Manny,” 1860 United States Census – Slave Schedule, 1860, accessed December 26, 2020 from ancestry.com database, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7668/images/tnm653_1285-0120?treeid=&personid=&rc=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=iaY858&_phstart=successSource&pId=92225235.

[iii] Marriage Record, “David Maney and Lucy Burke,” Rutherford County, TN: December 1, 1869, accessed December 26, 2020 from familysearch.org, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L93F-4447?i=245&cc=1619127&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AQKH3-W81T.

[iv] Reverend Melvin E. Hughes, A History of Rutherford County’s African American Community, (Murfreesboro: Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church, 1996): 14.

[v] United States Census, “Maney, David,” 1870 United States Census.

[vi] United States Census, “Maney, David,” 1870 United States Census.

[vii] United States Census, “Maney, David,” 1870 United States Census.

[viii] United States Census, “Maney, David,” 1880 United States Census, 1880, accessed December 26, 2020 from ancestry.com database, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6742/images/4244656-00459?treeid=&personid=&rc=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=iaY878&_phstart=successSource&pId=9981070.

[ix] United States Census, “Maney, David,” 1880 United States Census.

[x] United States Census, “Maney, David,” 1900 United States Census, 1900, accessed December 26, 2020 from ancestry.com database, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7602/images/4118727_00917?treeid=&personid=&rc=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=iaY881&_phstart=successSource&pId=61078309.  

[xi] United States Census, “Maney, David,” 1900 United States Census.